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littleheaven

2130 posts

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#153993 14-Oct-2014 21:32
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Having returned from a couple of weeks in Australia, I've discovered that the wireless performance on my Spark-supplied Technicolour VDSL modem has tanked.

Previous to going away, I was getting wireless speeds of 22-28 down and 9 up on my iPads and Mac Pro, which I was pretty satisfied with. We got home in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Over the weekend I noticed that browsing was very slow, and a speed test on Sunday afternoon showed ADSL speeds of 8 down and 0.7 up. A call to Spark revealed that some shenanigans in our cabinet on Friday had meant we'd been disconnected from our VDSL connection and plugged into someone else's ADSL connection, which explained why our usage meter for Saturday and Sunday was showing 0, despite quite a lot of actual usage.

On Monday morning we were reconnected to the VDSL and a speed test on my iPad reported 24 down and 9 up  - back to normal. However, Monday evening the download speeds were down to 12-14 down, although up remains at 8-9. Tonight I called Spark and they tested the line, and found it was back up to full VDSL speed. They got me to plug my spare laptop into the modem via ethernet cable and I got 35 down, so there's obviously an issue with my wireless which previously didn't exist. It's not feasible for me to cable connect my Mac Pro without removing a few walls, as it's not in the same room as the modem, nor can I move it there. Also the iPads in the house obviously can't be ethernet connected. The wireless performance continues to suck even after a modem reset. I've basically lost about 10mbps in download speed.

As the Technicolour is out of warranty by 2.5 months, I guess I need to buy a new one with better wireless performance to get back to previous download speeds? Can anyone recommend a VDSL model with particularly strong wireless performance? I don't mind spending a few hundred dollars to sort this out. Alternative suggestions also welcomed.




Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.


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johnr
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  #1153955 14-Oct-2014 21:36
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Have you tried changing WiFi channel?



sbiddle
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  #1153959 14-Oct-2014 21:40
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You need to go through the usual fault finding process with wireless. New hardware won't  make your performance better if the issues are related to nearby noise, poor channels, or interference.


PhantomNVD
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  #1153961 14-Oct-2014 21:41
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johnr: Have you tried changing WiFi channel?

This ^^

Get a wifi scanner app, check the bands in range and work around the (likely) new hi-powered noisemaker your neighbour prolly got installed in the last week. Alternately, turn off microwave and any 2.4ghz devices like wireless telephones and test again... Sometimes a flaky wireless phone on the way out. Becomes a nightmare beacon of noise to the (often nearby) local wifi network.

Good luck!



Ragnor
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  #1153964 14-Oct-2014 21:44
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If you have a Android device get the free Wifi Analyzer app and check out what's going on signal wise (might be increased competition from other AP's)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer 

Not sure if there is an ipad/iphone equivalent app

On PC you you can use inssider to do a similar thing, v4 is not free anymore but you can still get v3 from download sites (cnet, download.com etc)


littleheaven

2130 posts

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  #1153977 14-Oct-2014 22:05
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Oh my goodness, thank you so much! It turns out that Macs have a wireless diagnostics feature built in (the things you learn about a machine you've owned for 6 years, lol). I did a scan using that utility and it told me the best channels to use were 11 and 6. I'd already tried 11 while on the line to Spark, so this time I tried 6 and voila! 24mbps down.

Thank you so much for saving me from wasting several hundred dollars. I'm very grateful.

Link to the solution is here: http://osxdaily.com/2013/12/11/find-best-wi-fi-channel-wireless-tool-mac/




Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.


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